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Saint Blaise Abbey () was a
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the
Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
in
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
, Germany.


History


9th–12th centuries

The early history of the abbey is obscure. Its predecessor in the 9th century is supposed to have been a cell of Rheinau Abbey, known as ''cella alba'' (the "white cell"), but the line of development between that and the confirmed existence of St Blaise's Abbey in the 11th century is unclear. At some point the new foundation would have had to become independent of Rheinau, in which process the shadowy Reginbert of Seldenbüren (died about 962), traditionally named as the founder, may have played some role. The first definite abbot of St Blaise however was Werner I (1045?–1069). On 8 June 1065 the abbey received a grant of immunity from Emperor Henry IV, although it had connections to the family of the
anti-king An anti-king, anti king or antiking (; ) is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. OED "Anti-, 2" The OED does not give "anti-king" its own entry ...
Rudolf of Rheinfelden Rudolf of Rheinfelden ( – 15 October 1080) was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 1079. Initially a follower of his brother-in-law, the Salian emperor Henry IV, his election as German anti-king in 1077 marked the outbreak of the Great Saxon Revolt a ...
. Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise and the active
Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...
abbey of Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise following the Fruttuarian reforms, introducing lay-brothers or "conversi" and probably even the reformation of the abbey as a
double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East ...
for both monks and nuns (the nuns are said to have re-settled to Berau Abbey by 1117). Bernold of Constance (''ca'' 1050–1100) in his histories counts St Blaise alongside Hirsau Abbey as leading
Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...
n reform monasteries. Other religious houses reformed by, or founded as priories of, St Blaise were:
Muri Abbey Muri Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. While the monastery is currently established as Muri-Gries in South ...
(1082),
Ochsenhausen Abbey Ochsenhausen Abbey (formerly Ochsenhausen Priory; or ) was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Ochsenhausen in the district of Biberach (district), Biberach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The traditional story of the foun ...
(1093), Göttweig Abbey (1094),
Stein am Rhein Stein am Rhein (abbreviated as Stein a. R.) is a historic town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is located at the outfall of Lower Lake Constance on the High Rhine river, about halfway between the town of Scha ...
Abbey (before 1123) and
Prüm Abbey Prüm Abbey is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Franks, Frankish widow Bertrada of Prüm, Bertrada the elder and her son Caribert of Laon, Charibert, Count of Laon, ...
(1132). It also had significant influence on the abbeys of Alpirsbach (1099),
Ettenheimmünster Ettenheim () is a city in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Ettenheim was founded in the 8th century by Eddo, bishop of Strasbourg, and the was founded at about that time. Ettenheim received town rights in the 13th century ...
(1124) and
Sulzburg Sulzburg () is a town in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the western slope of the Black Forest, 20 km southwest of Freiburg. Sulzburg had a long tradition of continuous Jewish settle ...
(''ca'' 1125), and the priories of Weitenau (''ca'' 1100), Bürgeln (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch (''ca'' 1130). A list of prayer partnerships, drawn up about 1150, shows how extensive the connections were between St Blaise and other religious communities. During the course of the 12th century however the zeal of the monks cooled, as their attention became increasingly focussed on the acquisition, management and exploitation of their substantial estates, which by the 15th century extended across the whole of the
Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
and included not only the abbey's priories named above, but also the nunnery at Gutnau and the livings of Niederrotweil, Schluchsee, Wettelbrunn, Achdorf, Hochemmingen, Todtnau, Efringen, Schönau, Wangen, Plochingen, Nassenbeuren and many others.


13th–17th centuries

The original '' Vogtei'' (protective lordship) of the Bishops of Basle was shaken off quite early: a charter of the Emperor
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...
dated 8 January 1125 confirms that the abbey possessed imperial protection and free election of their ''
Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...
''. Nevertheless, the office afterwards became a possession of the Zähringer, and after their extinction in 1218, was held at Imperial will and gift under the Emperor Frederick II. While this may well have preserved a certain bond with the Emperor, there seems to have been no question of St Blaise's having the status of a ''" Reichskloster"''. From the mid-13th century the ''Vögte'' (protective lordship) were
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
which this drew St. Blaise increasingly into the
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n sphere of influence. The ties to the Empire remained, however: the abbey was named between 1422 and 1521 in the lists of imperial territories and the Swabian Circle tried in vain in 1549 to claim St Blaise as an imperial abbey. The four imperial lordships which St Blaise's had acquired by the end of the 13th century — Blumegg, Bettmaringen, Gutenburg and Berauer Berg — in fact formed the nucleus of the '' reichsunmittelbar'' lordship of Bonndorf, constituted in 1609, from which the Prince-Abbots derived their status in the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
.


17th century – present

The abbey was dissolved in the course of secularisation in 1806 and the monastic premises were thereupon used as one of the earliest mechanised factories in Germany. The monks however, under the last Prince-Abbot Dr Berthold Rottler, found their way to St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, where they settled in 1809. From 1934, the remaining buildings have been occupied by the well-known
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
college, the Kolleg St. Blasien.


St Blaise's "Cathedral"

The abbey church burnt down in 1768, and was rebuilt as a Neoclassical round church by the architect Pierre Michel d'Ixnard, with an enormous dome 46 metres across and 63 metres high (the third-largest in Europe north of the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
), during the years up to 1781 under the Prince-Abbot Martin Gerbert. It was consecrated in 1784.Johann Baptist Weiß ''Festrede, gehalten am 8. Tage der Feierlichkeiten bei Einweihung der neuen Kirche zu St. Blasien''. St. Gallen, 1784 (Official speech given on the 8th day of the celebrations for the consecration of the new church at St. Blasien) It remains as the Dom St Blasius, or "St Blaise's Cathedral" (so called because of its size and magnificence, not because it is a cathedral in any ecclesiastical or administrative sense). ''Dom'' properly denotes or means an important church (as the main church of a town or a city), not a cathedral (seat of a bishop), ''Kathedrale'' in German. The effects of another catastrophic fire in 1874 were only finally remedied in the 1980s.


Gallery

File:Dom_zu_St_Basien_(Kupferstich).jpg, Painting of the Abbey, 1783 File:Dom_St._Blasien,_September_2020.jpg, St Blaise Abbey File:Dom_zu_St._Blasien_1.jpg, Front of the Abbey File:St._Blasien_Dom_St._Blasius_Innen_Kuppel_5.JPG, The Abbey Dome File:Wappen St Blasien.png, The arms of the Abbey File:Schloss Bonndorf im Schwarzwald jm53141.jpg, The arms of Blasius III Bender with those of the abbey on the gatehouse at File:Abt Blasius III. Bender, St. Blasien (1672 - 1727).jpg, Blasius III Bender (1672-1727; abbot 1720–27)


Abbots of St. Blaise in the Black Forest

* Beringer von Hohenschwanden (945-974) * Ifo (974-983) * Siegfried (983-1021) * Bernard (1021–1045) * Werner I (1045–1069) * Giselbert (1068–1086) * Otto I (1086–1108) * Rustenus (1108–1125) * Berthold I (1125–1141) * Gunther of Andlau (1141–1170?) * Werner II of Küssaberg (1170–1178) * Theodebert of Bussnang (1178–1186) * Manegold of Hallwil (1186–1204) * Hermann I of Messkirch (1204–1222) * Otto II (1222–1223) * Hermann II (1223–1237) * Heinrich I (1237–1240) * Arnold I (1240–1247) * Arnold II (1247–1276) * Heinrich II of Stadion (1276–1294) * Berthold II (1294–1308) * Heinrich III (1308–1314) * Ulrich (1314–1334) * Petrus I of Thayingen (1334–1348) * Heinrich IV of Eschenz (1348–1391) * Konrad (1391) * Johannes I Kreutz (1391–1413) * Johannes II Duttlinger (1413–1429) * Nikolaus Stocker (1429–1460) * Petrus II Bösch (1460–1461) * Christopher of Greuth (1461–1482) * Eberhard von Reischach (1482–1491) * Blasius I Wambach (1491–1493) * Georg (Buob?) of Horb (1493–1519) Buob * Johannes III Spielmann (1519–1532) * Gallus Haas (1532–1540) * Johannes IV Wagner (1540–1541) * Caspar I Müller von Schöneck (1541–1571) * Caspar II Thomae (1571–1596) * Martin I Meister (1596–1625) * Blasius II Münster (1625–1638) * Franz I Chullots (1638–1664) * Otto III Kübler (1664–1672) * Romanus Vogler (1672–1695) * Augustin Simon Eusebius Finck (1695–1720) * Blasius III Bender (1720–1727) * Franz II Schächtelin (1727–1747) * Coelestin Vogler (1747–1749) * Meinrad Troger (1749–1764) * Martin II Gerbert (1764–1793) * Moritz Ribbele (1793–1801) * Berthold III Rottler (1801–1806)


Burials

* Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Swabia * Berthold I, Duke of Swabia


Footnotes


Sources

* Braun, J. W. (ed.), 2003. ''Urkundenbuch des Klosters Sankt Blasien im Schwarzwald. Von den Anfängen bis zum Jahr 1299; Teil I: Edition; Teil II: Einführung, Verzeichnisse, Register'' (= ''Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg: Reihe A, Quellen; Band 23''), Stuttgart. * Buhlmann, M., 2004. : ''Benediktinisches Mönchtum im mittelalterlichen Schwarzwald. Ein Lexikon. Vortrag beim Schwarzwaldverein St. Georgen e.V., St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, 10. November 2004, Teil 2: N-Z (= Vertex Alemanniae, H.10/2)'', pp. 76ff. St. Georgen. * Ott, H., 1963. ''Studien zur Geschichte des Klosters St. Blasien im hohen und späten Mittelalter'' (= Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg; Reihe B, Band 27). Stuttgart. * Ott, H., 1965. ''Die Vogtei über das Kloster St. Blasien seit dem Aussterben der Zähringer bis zum Übergang an das Haus Habsburg'', in: ''Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins'', Band 113 (NF 74), pp. 30–44. * Ott, H., 1969. ''Die Klostergrundherrschaft St. Blasien im Mittelalter. Beiträge zur Besitzgeschichte'' (= Arbeiten zum Historischen Atlas von Südwestdeutschland, Bd.4). Stuttgart. * Quarthal, F. (ed.), 1987. ''Germania Benedictina, Bd.5: Die Benediktinerklöster in Baden-Württemberg'', 2nd ed., pp. 146–160. St. Ottilien.


External links

*
St Blaise's Cathedral and the Jesuit community

Aerial View of the Monastery Complex

Sculpture in St Blaise's Abbey Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Blaises Abbey In The Black Forest 1806 disestablishments Burial sites of the House of Habsburg States and territories established in 1609 Benedictine monasteries in Germany Jesuit education Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg Church buildings with domes Religious organizations established in the 1600s Roman Catholic cathedrals in Baden-Württemberg Christian monasteries established in the 17th century Former states and territories of Baden-Württemberg St. Blasien Hotzenwald 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany